Muzzles are presently used to prevent an animal from biting. An animal may bite a person attempting to handle it for any number of reasons including fear, aggression, pain, or some other reason. For example, a dog may have had a painful experience during a traditional nail trim that continues to cause fear and aggression towards handlers. This fear typically leads to ongoing aggression that, if not addressed, may lead to risks for both the dog and the handler. For example, while handling a fearful dog that continuously tries to bite a handler, the handler could accidentally cut into the nerve portion of a dog's nail, also known as the quick. This will cause the dog pain and potentially cause the dog to lash out at the person attempting to cut the dog's nails. Animal bites can lead to infections, stitches, loss of limb, as well as a number of other potentially harmful results. Muzzles have been used to prevent the animal from biting the handler.
A muzzle is generally made of a hard plastic or metal and requires snapping or buckling the device around an animal's head. This action can be unwieldy and also subject the person attempting to apply the muzzle to an animal bite before getting the muzzle on the animal.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,398 to Allen, I I et al. describes a remotely controllable dog muzzle apparatus that includes a cup-shaped snout shield to which is attached an accessory pod provided with stimulus generators such as a stun gun or sensors interactive with a physical environment of a dog fitted with the muzzle. The dog muzzle has a cup-shaped snout shield which is connected around the dog's neck by an adjustable buckle. The snout shield is not deformable nor does it allow for the animal to receive food or water. The shield also does not screen the animal's vision.
Another example is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 7,523,720 to Lecy et al. entitled “Pet Hood.” The hood of Lecy allows an animal to see relatively unencumbered while at the same time preventing the animal from having oral contact with persons or other creatures. The hood is partly formed from a mesh that is most preferably a soft and lightweight plastic which is not harmful when swung by the animal. The hood is laced about the animal's neck region, and preferably includes a connection to a harness or other reliable anchor.
Although the background art achieves its own stated objectives, none of the background art relates to a flexible animal guard or to a guard that provides a deformable snout shield with an opening so the animal can receive food and water and for the guard to partially screen the animal's vision to prevent the animal from getting scared. The animal guard described herein is aimed at overcoming these and other shortcomings noted in the background art.